News
Sri Lanka Survives Netherlands Scare

Despite a resolute fightback by the Dutch, Sri Lanka held on to register a 21-run victory in their first Super Six match of the ongoing World Cup qualifiers worked off at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe on Friday.
After opting to bat first, A disciplined bowling from the Dutch saw Sri Lanka settle for a below-par score of 213 runs riding on the efforts of Dhananjaya de Silva, who scored his highest individual score.
The Asian Champions found themselves struggling from the first bowl after in-form Pathum Nissanka walked back to the pavilion for a golden duck.
Adding salt to Sri Lanka’s wound they lost two more wickets under five overs when Ryan Klein trapped Kusal Mendis for 10, while van Beek removed Sadeera Samarawickrama in the very next over to pin them further down.
To make things worse Logan Van Beek picked up his third wicket in the seventh over that of Charith Aslaanka (2) derailing the Lankans further.
Sri Lanka struggling at 34 for 4 inside seven overs, Dhanajaya de Silva showed some restraint and put on two of Sri Lanka’s most productive partnerships with Wanindu Hasaranga and Mahesh Theekshana.
De Silva struck 93 off 111 balls hitting eight fours and two sixes. He was well supported by Hasaranga and Theekshana, who scored 20 and 28 respectively.
De Silva and Mahesh Theekshana were engaged in a 77-run partnership for the 8th wicket to help Sri Lanka post a defendable total.
In reply, it was almost the carbon copy of the Sri Lanka innings when the Netherlands both openers fell for ducks, Lahiru Kumara removing Vikramjit Singh and Dilshan Madushanka accounting for Max O’Dowd.
Despite a shaky start, the Dutch revived their innings to a certain extent thanks to Wesley Barresi (52) and de Leede (41) putting on 77 for the third wicket before Hasaranga and Theekshana with the ball this time wreaked havoc, sharing five wickets between them. Skipper Scott Edwards (67*) scored his fourth fifty of the tournament to keep the Netherlands in the hunt. But he soon ran out of partners and his side succumbed to a 21-run defeat.
With this win, Sri Lanka has one foot already in the World Cup in India. They need just another win to seal the deal. They take on Zimbabwe at the same venue next.
Meanwhile, In the seventh-place play-off semifinal in Harare, Ireland secured a comfortable six-wicket victory over the USA, who remained winless in the tournament.
The USA asked to bat first, lost two early wickets but recovered with an 88-run partnership between Saiteja Mukkamalla and Sushant Modani. However, Ireland fought back, taking quick wickets and slicing the USA to 196 all out. Craig Young shone with three wickets.
In the chase, Ireland started well, thanks to Paul Stirling’s breezy fifty at the top and was helped by Andy Balbirnie’s 45* along the way as they chased the target with 15.4 overs to spare.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 213 in 47.4 overs (Dhananjaya de Silva 93, van Beek 3-26) defeated Netherlands 192 in 40 overs (Edwards 67*, Theekshana 3-31) by 21 runs
ශ්රී ලංකාව නෙදර්ලන්ත භීෂණයෙන් ගැලවෙයි.
නෙදර්ලන්ත ක්රීඩකයන්ගේ නොපසුබට සටනක් නොතකා, සිකුරාදා සිම්බාබ්වේ බුලවායෝහිදී පැවැත්වෙන ලෝක කුසලාන සුදුසුකම් ලැබීමේ තරගාවලියේ ඔවුන්ගේ පළමු සුපර් සික්ස් තරගයෙන් ලකුණු 21 ක ජයක් වාර්තා කිරීමට ශ්රී ලංකාව සමත් විය.
ප්රථමයෙන් පන්දුවට පහරදීමට තීරණය කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව නෙදර්ලන්ත ක්රීඩකයන්ගේ දක්ෂ පන්දු යැවීම හමුවේ සිය ඉහළම පුද්ගලික ලකුණු සංඛ්යාව රැස්කළ ධනංජය ද සිල්වාගේ උත්සාහය මත ශ්රී ලංකාව ලකුණු 213කට සීමා විය.
දක්ෂ පන්දු යැවීමක නිරත වූ පැතුම් නිශ්ශංක ලකුණු රැස් නොකිරීම නිසාවෙන් ආසියානු ශූරයින් පළමු පන්දු යැවීමේ දී අසීරු තත්ත්වයකට පත් විය. ශ්රී ලංකාවේ තුවාලයට ලුණු එකතු කරමින් රයන් ක්ලයින් කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් ලකුණු 10කට දවා ගනිද්දී තවත් කඩුලු 2ක් ශ්රී ලංකා පිලට අහිමි වූ අතර, වැන් බීක් ඊළඟ ඕවරයේදීම සදීර සමරවික්රම දවා ගත්තේ ඔවුන්ව තවත් පහළට තල්ලු කරමිනි.
තත්ත්වය වඩාත් නරක අතට හැරවීම සඳහා ලෝගන් වැන් බීක් හත්වැනි ඕවරයේදී චරිත් අසලංක ඔහුගේ තෙවැනි කඩුල්ල ලෙස දවා ගත්තේ ලංකා ක්රීඩකයන් තවත් පහළට ඇද දමමිනි.
ශ්රී ලංකාව ඕවර හතක් ඇතුළත කඩුලු 4ක් දැවී ලකුණු 34ක් ලබා සිටියදී අසීරු තත්ත්වයක සිටි අතර, ධනජය ද සිල්වා යම් සංයමයක් පෙන්නුම් කළ අතර වනිඳු හසරංග සහ මහේෂ් තීක්ෂණ සමඟින් ශ්රී ලංකාවේ වඩාත්ම ඵලදායි සබඳතා දෙකක් ඇති කළේය.
ධනංජය ද සිල්වා පන්දු 111කදී හතරේ පහර 8ක් සහ හයේ පහර 2ක් සමඟින් ලකුණු 93ක් රැස් කළේය. ඔහුට සහය වූ හසරංග සහ තීක්ෂණ පිළිවෙළින් ලකුණු 20ක් සහ 28ක් ලබා ගත්හ.
ද සිල්වා සහ මහේෂ් තීක්ෂණ 8 වැනි කඩුල්ලට ලකුණු 77ක සබඳතාවයක නියැළෙමින් ශ්රී ලංකා පිල ආරක්ෂා කළ හැකි ලකුණු සංඛ්යාවක් වාර්තා කිරීමට ඉවහල් විය.
පිළිතුරු ලෙස නෙදර්ලන්ත ආරම්භක පිතිකරුවන් දෙදෙනාම දැවී යාම ශ්රී ලංකා ඉනිමේ කාබන් කොපියක් විය.
ආරම්භය බිඳවැටුණද, තෙවැනි කඩුල්ල වෙනුවෙන් ලකුණු 77ක සබඳතාවක් ගොඩනැගූ වෙස්ලි බැරේසි (52) සහ ද ලීඩ් (41)ගේ පිතිහරඹය හේතුවෙන් නෙදර්ලන්ත ක්රීඩකයන් තම ඉනිම යම්තාක් දුරට යථා තත්ත්වයට පත් කළේ ය. ඔවුන්ට. නායක ස්කොට් එඩ්වර්ඩ්ස් (67*) මෙම තරගාවලියේ සිය සිවුවැනි අර්ධ ශතකය වාර්තා කරමින් නෙදර්ලන්තය තරඟයේ තබා ගැනීමට සමත් විය. නමුත් හසරංග සහ තීක්ෂණගේ පන්දු හමුවේ ඉක්මනින්ම ඔහුට අනෙක් පිතිකරුවන්ගේ සහය අහිමි වූ අතර ඔහුගේ කණ්ඩායම ලකුණු 21 ක පරාජයකට යටත් විය.
මෙම ජයග්රහණයත් සමඟ ඉන්දියාවේදී පැවැත්වෙන ලෝක කුසලාන තරගාවලියට ශ්රී ලංකාව දැනටමත් එක් පාදයක් හිමිකරගෙන සිටියි. එය සහතික කරගැනීමට ඔවුන්ට අවශ්ය වන්නේ තවත් ජයග්රහණයක් පමණි. ඔවුන් මීළඟට එම පිටියේදීම සිම්බාබ්වේ සමග තරග වදියි.
සංක්ෂිප්ත ලකුණු: ශ්රී ලංකාව ඕවර 47.4කදී 213 (ධනංජය ද සිල්වා 93, වැන් බීක් 3-26) නෙදර්ලන්තය ඕවර 40කදී 192 (එඩ්වර්ඩ්ස් 67*, තීක්ෂණ 3-31) ලකුණු 21කින් පරාජය කරන ලදී.
Cricket
Kamindu Mendis Shines as Sunrisers Hyderabad Break Chepauk Curse, Crush CSK’s Playoff Hopes | IPL 2025
Sri Lankan all-rounder Kamindu Mendis delivered under pressure, helping Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) script a historic first-ever win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium during the IPL 2025 season.
Chasing a tricky target of 155, Mendis played a composed and crucial unbeaten knock of 32 off 22 balls, stitching an unbroken 49-run partnership with Nitish Kumar to seal a five-wicket victory with eight balls to spare. His calm presence at the crease when the game was delicately poised underlined his growing stature in T20 cricket.
Earlier, the Chennai Super Kings, once invincible at home, continued their disastrous 2025 campaign — suffering a fourth consecutive home defeat. Batting first, CSK stumbled despite a promising start, collapsing to 154 all out. Dewald Brevis impressed briefly on debut with a quickfire 42 runs, but it was Harshal Patel’s brilliant spell (4 wickets for 28 runs) that broke CSK’s backbone.
For CSK, promising youngster Ayush Mhatre shone early, but a middle-order collapse proved costly. Even skipper M.S. Dhoni’s tactical gamble of giving Sam Curran two overs backfired, as SRH batters capitalized to turn the game.
In the SRH chase, despite early hiccups — losing Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head quickly — Ishan Kishan’s fluent 44 and Kamindu Mendis’ finishing touch ensured Hyderabad stayed alive in the playoff race.
Meanwhile, in the updated IPL 2025 points table, Sunrisers Hyderabad now sits 8th with 6 points, while CSK languishes at the bottom with just 4 points from 9 games, effectively ending their playoff dreams.
Mendis’ all-round contribution, including a key wicket earlier, and his coolness in the chase were pivotal. While Harshal Patel deservedly took the Player of the Match award, Sri Lanka can proudly celebrate Kamindu’s evolving prowess on the IPL stage.
Points Table Update (After SRH vs CSK Match):
- GT, DC, and RCB are leading the race with 12 points each.
- PBKS and MI are close behind with 11 and 10 points.
- CSK and RR are at the bottom with just 4 points, all but knocked out of the playoffs.
News
Kaya Daluwatte and Reshan Algama Shine at 16th Faldo Series Asia Grand Final in Vietnam
Sri Lanka’s promising golf talents Kaya Daluwatte and Reshan Algama showcased their growing international class with stellar performances at the prestigious 16th Faldo Series Asia Grand Final, held at the stunning Laguna Golf Lang Co in Vietnam.
Facing off against the finest junior golfers from the Asia-Pacific region—including representatives from Australia, England, Japan, India, and Wales—both Kaya and Reshan rose to the occasion, underlining Sri Lanka’s emerging strength in the sport.
Kaya Daluwatte delivered one of her career-best performances, finishing as the runner-up in the Girls’ Under-16 category. After three composed rounds, she posted a remarkable final score of even-par 216, highlighted by an impressive 2-under-par finish in the final round. Despite Japan’s Al Goto clinching the title with a score of 213, Kaya’s climb up the leaderboard captured widespread admiration. Her poise, precision, and birdies during the crucial back-nine holes showcased a maturity well beyond her years.
This runner-up finish at one of Asia’s top junior championships marks a historic achievement for Sri Lankan golf, signaling that the nation’s junior golfers are ready to challenge the region’s traditional powerhouses.
In the Boys’ Under-16 category, Reshan Algama also left his mark by securing a strong fourth-place finish with a gross score of 218. Although his final round did not match the brilliance of his earlier efforts, Reshan displayed commendable composure against a highly competitive international field. His consistency across top-level tournaments reflects his rapid development into a serious contender on the global junior golf circuit.
Vietnam’s Tuan Anh Nguyen dominated the Boys’ division, leading from start to finish to claim the title with a superb score of 205. India’s Arshvant Srivastava and Kanav Chauhan finished second and third, with scores of 214 and 216 respectively.
Kaya and Reshan’s performances not only bring pride to Sri Lanka but also signal a bright future for the country’s junior golfing scene on the Asian stage.
Football
SAFF Championship Postponement Exposes Deeper Issues Within FFSL
The much-anticipated SAFF Championship, originally scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka in July 2025, has now been officially postponed to 2026—a move that has raised serious concerns over the competence and credibility of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL).
According to the SAFF Executive Committee, the decision to delay the tournament stemmed largely from pressure exerted by its marketing partner, Sportfive, which advocated for a home-and-away format to increase commercial value. Furthermore, it is reported that Sportfive preferred the event be hosted in Bangladesh or India, citing better sponsor access and commercial feasibility in those countries if the tournament were to follow a centralized model.
However, beyond external pressure, this development highlights a troubling reality: the FFSL’s inability to effectively organize and defend Sri Lanka’s hosting rights on the international stage. This isn’t merely a scheduling issue—it reflects a deeper pattern of administrative shortcomings, lack of vision, and prioritization of media narratives over tangible development.
As previously reported by Sri Lankan Sports TV, the FFSL continues to focus more on optics and media stunts rather than on the foundational work required to uplift football in the country. The failure to safeguard Sri Lanka’s opportunity to host a major regional tournament not only affects the sport’s growth domestically but also damages the nation’s reputation within South Asian football.
For a federation that has long promised reform and transparency, this latest setback exposes how little progress has actually been made. When commercial partners have more sway than the national football body itself, it’s a clear indication that local football governance is being undermined by weak leadership and poor planning.
This should be a wake-up call—not just for the FFSL, but for every stakeholder invested in the future of Sri Lankan football. The time for slogans and staged announcements is over. Sri Lanka needs action, accountability, and genuine commitment to building a sustainable footballing culture. Until then, headlines like this will only continue to reflect a sport lost in mismanagement.
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